Love Sick
by BlueKaida
Summary: When Naruto becomes ill after a mission, who better to nurse him back to health than medical-nin Haruno Sakura? First kiss NaruSaku oneshot! Not angsty. NS


Love Sick

"Hey you guys?" Team Kakashi looked up curiously upon hearing Naruto's pathetic tone. He hobbled delicately towards his team mates who were all comfortably sitting in the confines of his living room. This was a new tradition they started when they were all tired of him showing up to training sessions even later than Kakashi. So, around 9:30 that morning, they barged into his living room and demanded he get up and ready himself for the day, rather than waking up at the crack of noon like he's been doing out of habit as of recent.

Naruto, looking several shades pale than even Sai, continued. "I don't think I can train today, you guys," he said meekly.

Sai looked at Naruto in wonder, as if he had never seen someone about to hurl before. Yamato was harbouring a small amount of confusion and complacency in his expression. Kakashi and Sakura, who knew him best, gave him a deadpan stare that read, "We aren't buying it, you faker."

"Um...why?" Yamato asked. Sai was too apathetic to ask and Kakashi and Sakura weren't quite finished eyeing him suspiciously.

Yeah, Naruto," Sakura broke in, her suspicious eyes not leaving his face. "Why?"

"Well, for one...I have an awful headache. Maybe even a migraine," he complained. Naruto slinked over towards the couch Yamato was sitting on and dropped down onto it, burying half of his face into a pillow. Yamato leaped up off the couch in a squirrelly manner as if migraines were contagious.

"I've seen you try and get in on a fight when you're arm was nearly mangled," Kakashi pointed out. "Are you saying you're sick because you're still upset Tsunade-sama isn't giving us a mission today?"

"No," Naruto groaned.

"Did you eat bad ramen?" Sakura asked with a smirk, half-jokingly.

"This morning I threw up and it was purple!" That shut everyone up. Sai was still apathetic; Yamato was currently disgusted at the thought of it, and behind his mask Kakashi probably was too.

"Naruto," Sakura stated blankly. "Do you remember a couple of months ago when we were leaving Sunagakure after our mission?"

Naruto nodded in compliance.

"Do you remember you tried eating those wild berries and I said not to because I was pretty sure they were the poisonous kind?"

He nodded again.

"Did you not listen to me and eat them anyway?"

He nodded once more.

Sakura rolled her eyes and let out a scoff, waving her hand dismissively. "When a medical ninja tells you not to do something that could alter your health, it's probably smart to listen, idiot," she scolded. Naruto buried his face farther into the pillow. "I researched that berry when we got back. It's a wild black desert berry and their poison can lay dormant in your body for months, sometimes even years."

"Do you know how to heal it?" Kakashi asked folding his arms. There was a slight tone of impatience in his voice. Usually he was being waited on by his team. He didn't seem well-adapted to the idea of the roles being reversed.

"Yeah I can heal it," Sakura said. "But it'll take all day." Naruto let out a gruff whine and rolled his eyes. He didn't like feeling weaker than the others, but he had little to no physical strength left to peel himself up off the couch and get to the training grounds with his team. Sai saw the look of defeat and deflation on his face, but any mirth he got from this lame scene quickly evaporated when he saw Naruto wince and clutch his stomach in agony.

"Just go...without me, I guess..." he said sadly, trying to suppress his urge to vomit.

Sakura shook her head violently. "No," she said. "I'll stay here with you. I know the stages of this sickness so I'll stay to alleviate it for you."

If Naruto didn't feel like he was about to loose last night's dinner, he would have been very happy to hear that Sakura was going to stay with him throughout the day.

"Is that okay, Kakashi-sensei?" she asked charmingly. Kakashi shrugged.

"Fine by me," he said. He looked over at Yamato and Sai who nodded at him. The three shuffled out of Naruto's small apartment, heading for the sparring grounds to begin today's training regiment.

"See you guys later," Sakura waved, shutting the door behind them. She quickly skirted off to the kitchen, bustling around through the shabby and cluttered cabinets. She prepared a heated compress and found a box of tea packets that had never been opened.

"Better?" she asked, not-so-gently pressing the heat pack onto his abdomen. Sakura had a way about her that was physically rough but mentally gentle and caring. He liked that, in a way. It kept thing interesting.

"I'm not sure," he admitted, cringing as his stomach contracted again.

He watched the calculations running across her emerald eyes. She was thinking of ways to make this go smoother and easier for him. She gingerly lifted his shirt up, trying very hard to make it seem professional, not necessarily for his sake, but for her own. She pressed the heat pack onto his bare skin. Naruto shivered at the pain in his stomach and the warming shock of Sakura's small, slender fingers gently brushing against his skin. She saw the shiver and smiled sympathetically at him, a side he doesn't often get to see from her.

"The spasms of pain stage will end soon," she promised lightly. She reflexively began stroking the hair out from his face. After a long night of tossing and turning matched with the lack of forehead protector, Naruto's shaggy, spiky hair flopped down onto his face miserably.

"Stage?" he asked in disbelief. "As in, there's _more_?" he whimpered to himself at the thought.

"Don't be a baby, Naruto," she said. The words were harsh but her tone was smooth and caring. "The only stage left is the-"

"Ahh!" Naruto screeched and whipped the pillow out from under his head and began hugging it tightly against his chest. "It's freezing!" He shuddered and his teeth began knocking together.

"Your body temperature will be lowered to less ninety-five degrees," she said grimly. She considered mentioning the fact that, in extreme cases, the body temperature can be lowered to even lower than that. She also decided not to explain that this was the longest stage of them all and can last hours, sometimes even days. It was total, consumed cold. If someone with an already weakened immune system were to get this illness, it could even kill them. Naruto was a healthy teenage boy, though. He wasn't likely to get killed by it. The idea still shot Sakura with a pang of worry mixed with some guilt.

At just the right moment, the tea pot squealed and announced its readiness. Sakura jumped up to go pour him some tea. "I'll try and find some blankets for you," she told him before leaving the room.

Sakura came back with a cup of tea, a few blankets in her arms, and another heat pack. "You're doing well," she complimented, squeezing his hands reassuringly with a gentle smile.

"S-s-so are you," he replied brokenly, trying to show her a thankful expression beyond his chattering teeth. If there was any heat in his body, he would probably blush at the gesture of her squeezing his hand. However, he was currently drained of any heat.

Sakura flipped the heat pack pressing on his stomach, and placed the other one on his bare feet. She placed each wool blanket over him, one at a time, and lightly tucked him in. Her usually rough, discomforting hands were so gentle with her ill patient. After she had neatly placed each of the five blankets on top of him, he was still shivering. Sakura tried to hide her confusion and worry. In all honesty, she had started off confident that she could break this sickness faster than record time. After all, she _was_ Tsunade-sama's pupil.

"Drink your tea," she voiced monotonously, too deep in thought about what else she could do to help him to put effort into a calm, soothing tone. She handed him the warm mug and he took a tiny sip before starting to cough. Apparently his nausea wasn't entirely gone just yet.

"This isn't working," she lamented, defeated. Tsunade always reminded her never to show the patient your helplessness, but what else could she do? She was fresh out of ideas.

"S-S-S-Sakura-chan?" he shivered, taking her hand shakily. "I have an- an id-d-dea." She nodded and listened closely at his broken speak. "C-C-Could you do me a big favor...c-c-could you just lay n-next to me...?"

Sakura twitched. Was he faking all of this just to flirt? No...Naruto would have had to study up on the effects of those berries in order to act this well. He doesn't have the mental stamina for that. Could he be using his illness to flirt though? He's smart enough to do that. Sakura looked at the weakened, hooded eyes Naruto looked up at her with. Even the crystal, sky-blue of his eyes seemed duller. No, he wasn't faking it or even using the situation to his advantage. He was genuinely trying to warm up.

Sakura chewed on the inside of her cheek. "Fine," she said shortly. Naruto pulled back the blankets enough for her to get inside. They didn't' see the other blush as she climbed in. Sakura laid her hand lightly on his chest, her heat warming him like a furnace. Throwing away anything he knew about social standards, of even when he stood on the totem pole of Team Kakashi, Naruto grabbed her around the waist with his cold-blooded arm and pulled her against him like a teddy bear, snuggling up into her neck. His cold, small nose nuzzled against her jaw. He sighed in relief.

"Thank you, S-Sakura-c-chan," he muttered, causing Sakura to shudder a bit as his icy lips moved against her neck.

"Y-You're welcome," she stammered, blushing.

"S-Sorry," he said apologetically. "Am I making you cold?" he asked, navigating his way to her hand and squeezing it. Sakura flipped over in his arms to face him. She scooted her body closer to him so that the change in position didn't cause her to fall off the couch.

"No," she responded, brushing another lock of golden hair away from his still-frozen forehead. He caught her hand and held it against his icy cheek. '_It's because I'm warm_,' Sakura explained to herself. _'Nothing more to it than that_.' Naruto's arm tightened around her waist and Sakura held back a relaxed sigh. It was nice, just being with Naruto. Even if was because his temperature had dropped, she can't remember a recent time when they were alone together outside of a mission or training session.

"Hey, Sakura?" Naruto muffled a question into her hair. She made a soft response. "You won't get sick being close to me, will you?" he asked, concerned.

She shook her head. "I didn't eat the berries," she reminded him, a lingering pang of 'I told you so' was still dripping from her voice. Naruto ignored the snap in her remark and looked relieved at the news, pulling her closer.

Naruto's shivering suddenly started up again, and he groan quietly. She fussed over him, hugging him tighter and whispering in his ear with her warm, sweet breath. "Shhhh...it's almost over," she cooed, almost unaware of what she was saying. She held his face with both hands, squeezing her body against his in an attempt to warm him up. He was let out small whimpers, sounding so helpless to her. Sakura bit her lip. '_There must be some way..._'

And then she kissed him. She wasn't even exactly sure why. Just a strange impulse, she figured. In any case, there was a cessation of Naruto's convulsions as she softly moved her mouth against his, cradling his face. He smiled against her mouth. Not only was kissing Sakura wonderfully sweet and satisfying, but very helpful to his condition. His face muscles melted from their frozen paralysis and began kissing her back, his lips parting and moving against hers for a moment before a sigh escaped from them. Sakura could feel the heat returning to his face, all the muscles in his body relaxing. She drew back, dropping a few extra kisses on his cheeks, chin, and jaw before settling back into the blankets, tightening them around the two bodies. Naruto was still for a moment, his breathing oddly ragged. Soon, however, she felt him take her hand again, and heard a small laugh in her ear.

"Do you treat all your patients like this?"


End file.
